diff --git a/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts b/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts
index d3ce163..ebfa2b0 100644
--- a/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts
+++ b/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts
@@ -193,13 +193,40 @@ export function previewPriority(renderPriority: number, boost: number, urgentThr
   return Math.max(0, boosted);
 }
 
-/** Creates the PREVIEW_ONLY job that follows a successful EXR render. */
+/**
+ * The priority an export's work runs at: the one its render was queued with.
+ *
+ * Every preview for an export derives from this rather than from a previous
+ * preview job, for two reasons. A preview job may not exist yet — an export
+ * that failed validation never had one, and reading a missing row used to
+ * silently drop an urgent export to normal. And deriving from an already-
+ * boosted preview would boost again on each retry, drifting the export up the
+ * queue a step at a time.
+ */
+export async function renderPriorityFor(
+  tx: Prisma.TransactionClient,
+  exportId: string
+): Promise<number> {
+  const job = await tx.renderJob.findFirst({
+    where: { exportId, type: "AE_RENDER" },
+    orderBy: { attempt: "desc" },
+    select: { priority: true },
+  });
+  return job?.priority ?? 50;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Creates a PREVIEW_ONLY job. `renderPriority` is the export's *render*
+ * priority; the queue rank is derived from it here so every path — first
+ * build, retry, regenerate, validation override — ranks identically.
+ */
 export async function createPreviewJob(
   tx: Prisma.TransactionClient,
   exportRow: ExportForPreview,
   manifest: PreviewManifest,
   maxAttempts: number,
-  priority: number
+  renderPriority: number,
+  attempt = 1
 ) {
   const [boost, urgentThreshold] = await Promise.all([
     getConfigNumber("render.previewPriorityBoost"),
@@ -210,9 +237,9 @@ export async function createPreviewJob(
     data: {
       type: "PREVIEW_ONLY",
       exportId: exportRow.id,
-      attempt: 1,
+      attempt,
       maxAttempts,
-      priority: previewPriority(priority, boost, urgentThreshold),
+      priority: previewPriority(renderPriority, boost, urgentThreshold),
       manifest: manifest as unknown as Prisma.InputJsonValue,
     },
   });
@@ -421,18 +448,17 @@ export async function retryPreview(exportId: string, actorId?: string) {
     const last = await tx.renderJob.findFirst({
       where: { exportId, type: "PREVIEW_ONLY" },
       orderBy: { attempt: "desc" },
+      select: { attempt: true },
     });
 
-    const job = await tx.renderJob.create({
-      data: {
-        type: "PREVIEW_ONLY",
-        exportId,
-        attempt: (last?.attempt ?? 0) + 1,
-        maxAttempts,
-        priority: last?.priority ?? 50,
-        manifest: manifest as unknown as Prisma.InputJsonValue,
-      },
-    });
+    const job = await createPreviewJob(
+      tx,
+      exportRow,
+      manifest,
+      maxAttempts,
+      await renderPriorityFor(tx, exportId),
+      (last?.attempt ?? 0) + 1
+    );
 
     const updated = await applyTransition(tx, exportRow, "GENERATING_PREVIEW", {
       type: "USER",
@@ -501,18 +527,17 @@ export async function regeneratePreview(exportId: string, input: RegeneratePrevi
     const last = await tx.renderJob.findFirst({
       where: { exportId, type: "PREVIEW_ONLY" },
       orderBy: { attempt: "desc" },
+      select: { attempt: true },
     });
 
-    const job = await tx.renderJob.create({
-      data: {
-        type: "PREVIEW_ONLY",
-        exportId,
-        attempt: (last?.attempt ?? 0) + 1,
-        maxAttempts,
-        priority: last?.priority ?? 50,
-        manifest: manifest as unknown as Prisma.InputJsonValue,
-      },
-    });
+    const job = await createPreviewJob(
+      tx,
+      refreshed,
+      manifest,
+      maxAttempts,
+      await renderPriorityFor(tx, exportId),
+      (last?.attempt ?? 0) + 1
+    );
 
     const updated = await applyTransition(
       tx,
diff --git a/lib/render-pipeline/validation.ts b/lib/render-pipeline/validation.ts
index 1c89157..7ae2ffe 100644
--- a/lib/render-pipeline/validation.ts
+++ b/lib/render-pipeline/validation.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { db } from "@/lib/db";
 import { PipelineError } from "./errors";
 import { applyTransition } from "./transitions";
 import { getConfigBoolean, getConfigNumber, getConfigValue, getPreviewConfig } from "./config";
-import { buildPreviewManifest, createPreviewJob, inheritPreviewMedia } from "./preview";
+import { buildPreviewManifest, createPreviewJob, inheritPreviewMedia, renderPriorityFor } from "./preview";
 
 /**
  * Validation engine results (RenderPipeline2 §8). The worker runs the checks —
@@ -301,17 +301,20 @@ export async function overrideValidation(
     const last = await tx.renderJob.findFirst({
       where: { exportId, type: "PREVIEW_ONLY" },
       orderBy: { attempt: "desc" },
+      select: { attempt: true },
     });
-    const previewJob = await tx.renderJob.create({
-      data: {
-        type: "PREVIEW_ONLY",
-        exportId,
-        attempt: (last?.attempt ?? 0) + 1,
-        maxAttempts,
-        priority: last?.priority ?? 50,
-        manifest: manifest as unknown as Prisma.InputJsonValue,
-      },
-    });
+    // An export that failed validation has never had a preview job — validation
+    // runs before the preview stage — so the rank comes from its render, which
+    // is what keeps an urgent export urgent through an override. Someone is
+    // usually standing over an urgent shot when they wave a check through.
+    const previewJob = await createPreviewJob(
+      tx,
+      exportRow,
+      manifest,
+      maxAttempts,
+      await renderPriorityFor(tx, exportId),
+      (last?.attempt ?? 0) + 1
+    );
 
     const updated = await applyTransition(tx, exportRow, "GENERATING_PREVIEW", {
       type: "USER",