diff --git a/lib/cyrusdb_twom.c b/lib/cyrusdb_twom.c
index 90f2346154..c239162577 100644
--- a/lib/cyrusdb_twom.c
+++ b/lib/cyrusdb_twom.c
@@ -2000,10 +2000,10 @@ static int mycheckpoint(struct dbengine *db)
     r = opendb(newfname, flags, &cr.db, &cr.tid);
     if (r) return r;
 
-    // has it already repacked?
-    if (cr.db->openfile->header.num_records ||
-        cr.db->openfile->header.generation > 1 ||
-        !memcmp(cr.db->openfile->header.uuid, db->openfile->header.uuid, 16)) {
+    // did we lose the race? (same uuid, higher generation, records exist)
+    if (!memcmp(cr.db->openfile->header.uuid, db->openfile->header.uuid, 16)
+        || cr.db->openfile->header.generation > 1
+        || cr.db->openfile->header.num_records) {
         r = myabort(cr.db, cr.tid);
         if (r) goto err;
         myclose(cr.db);