diff --git a/src/validator.zig b/src/validator.zig
index 606f266..ab73ef0 100644
--- a/src/validator.zig
+++ b/src/validator.zig
@@ -578,17 +578,15 @@ pub const Validator = struct {
 
         var resolver = &self.host_resolvers[idx];
 
-        // first resolve attempt
-        var doc = resolver.resolve(parsed) catch |err1| {
+        // first resolve attempt. the first-attempt error is not captured:
+        // resolver.resolve upstream collapses everything into
+        // DidResolutionFailed, so both attempts produce the same error kind
+        // here and only the second one is worth logging.
+        var doc = resolver.resolve(parsed) catch {
             // retry once on network failure
-            var doc2 = resolver.resolve(parsed) catch |err2| {
+            var doc2 = resolver.resolve(parsed) catch |err| {
                 _ = self.stats.host_authority_reject_resolve.fetchAdd(1, .monotonic);
-                // log the second-attempt error kind — first-attempt kind is
-                // dropped because resolver.resolve already swallows it into
-                // DidResolutionFailed upstream, so both errors look the same
-                // here. detail field captures @errorName for upstream triage.
-                self.sampleLogReject("resolve", did, @errorName(err2), incoming_host_id, 0);
-                _ = err1;
+                self.sampleLogReject("resolve", did, @errorName(err), incoming_host_id, 0);
                 return .reject;
             };
             defer doc2.deinit();