error with response code

error_cake

both queries below are in the context of a transaction done 
        $dataSourceProduct->begin($this->Product);

which sends a start transaction to the database in the mysql logs

START TRANSACTION

---first query 
can see query in mysql logs  being sent to server 
 runs well and returns an array so i can check number of resultset below 
$prequery="SELECT id,stock_available FROM products WHERE  (id = '18' and stock_available >= '2')or (id = '23' and stock_available >= '1') FOR UPDATE"

   $response = $this->Product->query($prequery);


        if (sizeof($response) < sizeof($products_data)) {

            return false;
etc......

---second query
can see query in mysql logs  being sent to server 
but returns an empty array instead of a Boolean which i can use to check below 
$insert_product="UPDATE products SET stock_available = CASE WHEN id = '18' THEN '276' WHEN id = '23' THEN '129' END WHERE id IN  (18,23)"

$this->Product->query($insert_product)
  if ($this->Product->query($insert_product)) {

etc.....


but second one doesnt return anything .
note that this works perfectly in cake 1.3 but in cake 2.6.7  empty array is returned ?