diff --git a/tests/common/mod.rs b/tests/common/mod.rs
index 509a1f5..196f3d3 100644
--- a/tests/common/mod.rs
+++ b/tests/common/mod.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #![allow(dead_code)]
 
 use std::collections::HashMap;
-use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::sync::{Arc, Condvar, Mutex};
 
 use alloy_eips::BlockId;
 use alloy_primitives::{Address, Bytes, U256, hex};
@@ -128,19 +128,64 @@ pub fn failing_fetcher() -> StorageBatchFetchFn {
     })
 }
 
-/// Build a stub [`StorageBatchFetchFn`] that reports chosen values *and* flips a
-/// shared flag the first time it is called.
+/// A one-shot synchronous gate: a holder blocks in [`wait`](Gate::wait) until
+/// some other thread calls [`release`](Gate::release). Cloning shares the same
+/// underlying state, and `release` is sticky — once released, every present and
+/// future `wait` returns immediately.
 ///
-/// Used by the Drop-abort test to prove the background validator was cancelled
-/// before it ever fetched (so it could not have queued a correction). The
-/// returned values otherwise behave exactly like [`stub_fetcher`].
-pub fn tracking_fetcher(
+/// Used by the Drop-abort test to make the background validator's fetch
+/// deterministically ordered *after* the drop. The fetcher (running on a worker
+/// thread) cannot return — and therefore the validator cannot reach its
+/// post-fetch checkpoint — until the test has dropped the `SpeculativeSim` and
+/// released the gate, eliminating the spawn/poll race regardless of how the
+/// multi-thread scheduler interleaves the two threads.
+///
+/// Built on a `Mutex<bool>` + `Condvar` so the whole thing is `Send + Sync`,
+/// which a [`StorageBatchFetchFn`] closure must be.
+#[derive(Clone, Default)]
+pub struct Gate {
+    inner: Arc<(Mutex<bool>, Condvar)>,
+}
+
+impl Gate {
+    pub fn new() -> Self {
+        Self::default()
+    }
+
+    /// Block until [`release`](Gate::release) has been called (returns
+    /// immediately if it already has).
+    pub fn wait(&self) {
+        let (lock, cv) = &*self.inner;
+        let mut released = lock.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
+        while !*released {
+            released = cv.wait(released).unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Wake any current waiter and let all future waiters pass.
+    pub fn release(&self) {
+        let (lock, cv) = &*self.inner;
+        *lock.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner()) = true;
+        cv.notify_all();
+    }
+}
+
+/// Build a stub [`StorageBatchFetchFn`] that reports chosen values but blocks on
+/// `gate` before returning.
+///
+/// Used by the Drop-abort test: by releasing the gate only *after* dropping the
+/// `SpeculativeSim`, the test guarantees the validator's fetch completes (and so
+/// its post-fetch, correction-queuing checkpoint runs) strictly after the
+/// cancel flag is set — so the dropped speculation can never queue a correction,
+/// no matter how the scheduler races the two threads. The returned values
+/// otherwise behave exactly like [`stub_fetcher`].
+pub fn gated_tracking_fetcher(
     values: HashMap<(Address, U256), U256>,
-    called: Arc<std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool>,
+    gate: Gate,
 ) -> StorageBatchFetchFn {
     Arc::new(
         move |requests: Vec<(Address, U256)>, _block: Option<BlockId>| {
-            called.store(true, std::sync::atomic::Ordering::SeqCst);
+            gate.wait();
             requests
                 .into_iter()
                 .map(|(addr, slot)| {
diff --git a/tests/freshness.rs b/tests/freshness.rs
index 353f827..73607d0 100644
--- a/tests/freshness.rs
+++ b/tests/freshness.rs
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ use alloy_sol_types::SolCall;
 use anyhow::Result;
 
 use common::{
-    MOCK_ERC20_BALANCE_SLOT, MockERC20, failing_fetcher, install_default_account,
-    install_mock_erc20, panicking_fetcher, setup_cache, stub_fetcher, tracking_fetcher,
+    Gate, MOCK_ERC20_BALANCE_SLOT, MockERC20, failing_fetcher, gated_tracking_fetcher,
+    install_default_account, install_mock_erc20, panicking_fetcher, setup_cache, stub_fetcher,
 };
 use evm_fork_cache::cache::{
     EvmCache, EvmOverlay, SimStatus, SlotObservationTracker, StorageBatchFetchFn,
@@ -1224,9 +1224,20 @@ async fn run_into_optimistic_aborts_validation() -> Result<()> {
 
 // T3 (part 1): dropping the SpeculativeSim (no validate/into_optimistic) aborts
 // the validation task before it can push a correction. The fetcher reports a
-// CHANGED value and flips a "called" flag; after the drop + settle we assert the
-// pending queue is empty (and, robustly, that the fetcher was never even
-// reached) — proving the abort beat the push.
+// CHANGED value, so an *uncancelled* validator would queue a correction and bump
+// the re-run count; we assert neither happens after the drop.
+//
+// Determinism: the validator's only correction-queuing path runs *after* its
+// fetch returns (the post-fetch cancel checkpoint in `run_validator` gates it).
+// We make that ordering race-free with a gate the test controls — the fetcher
+// blocks until `gate.release()`, and we release only *after* `drop(sim)` has set
+// the cancel flag. So however the multi-thread scheduler interleaves the spawned
+// task and this thread, the fetch (and thus the post-fetch checkpoint) can only
+// complete once cancellation is already observable, and the correction is
+// suppressed. We deliberately do NOT assert the fetcher was never reached: the
+// product only guarantees a cancel seen at a checkpoint suppresses side effects,
+// not that an in-flight fetch is skipped — asserting the latter was the original
+// over-strict, racy condition.
 #[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread")]
 async fn dropping_speculative_sim_aborts_before_queueing_correction() -> Result<()> {
     let token = Address::repeat_byte(0x44);
@@ -1234,10 +1245,10 @@ async fn dropping_speculative_sim_aborts_before_queueing_correction() -> Result<
     let recipient = Address::repeat_byte(0x66);
 
     let mut cache = cache_with_balance(token, owner, U256::from(1000)).await?;
-    let called = Arc::new(std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool::new(false));
-    cache.set_storage_batch_fetcher(tracking_fetcher(
+    let gate = Gate::new();
+    cache.set_storage_batch_fetcher(gated_tracking_fetcher(
         HashMap::from([((token, balance_slot_for(owner)), U256::from(50))]),
-        Arc::clone(&called),
+        gate.clone(),
     ));
 
     let mut controller = FreshnessController::new(FreshnessRegistry::new(), AlwaysVerify);
@@ -1249,9 +1260,12 @@ async fn dropping_speculative_sim_aborts_before_queueing_correction() -> Result<
             transfer_calldata(recipient, U256::from(100)),
         )],
     )?;
-    // Drop immediately, with NO intervening await, so the abort flag is set
-    // before the spawned task is ever polled.
+    // Drop with NO intervening await, then release the gate. Releasing only after
+    // the drop guarantees the validator's fetch (if it even reaches it) returns
+    // strictly after the cancel flag is set, so its post-fetch checkpoint bails
+    // out before queuing anything.
     drop(sim);
+    gate.release();
 
     settle().await;
 
@@ -1260,10 +1274,6 @@ async fn dropping_speculative_sim_aborts_before_queueing_correction() -> Result<
         0,
         "dropping the sim must abort validation before it queues a correction"
     );
-    assert!(
-        !called.load(std::sync::atomic::Ordering::SeqCst),
-        "the aborted validator should never have reached the fetcher"
-    );
     assert_eq!(controller.rerun_count(), 0, "no re-run after abort");
     Ok(())
 }