diff --git a/net/dns/resolver/forwarder.go b/net/dns/resolver/forwarder.go
index b690285ba..531c2d130 100644
--- a/net/dns/resolver/forwarder.go
+++ b/net/dns/resolver/forwarder.go
@@ -316,17 +316,12 @@ func (f *forwarder) sendDoH(ctx context.Context, urlBase string, c *http.Client,
 //
 // send expects the reply to have the same txid as txidOut.
 //
-// The provided closeOnCtxDone lets send register values to Close if
-// the caller's ctx expires. This avoids send from allocating its own
-// waiting goroutine to interrupt the ReadFrom, as memory is tight on
-// iOS and we want the number of pending DNS lookups to be bursty
-// without too much associated goroutine/memory cost.
-func (f *forwarder) send(ctx context.Context, txidOut txid, closeOnCtxDone *closePool, packet []byte, dst netaddr.IPPort) ([]byte, error) {
+func (f *forwarder) send(ctx context.Context, fq *forwardQuery, dst netaddr.IPPort) ([]byte, error) {
 	ip := dst.IP()
 
 	// Upgrade known DNS IPs to DoH (DNS-over-HTTPs).
 	if urlBase, dc, ok := f.getDoHClient(ip); ok {
-		res, err := f.sendDoH(ctx, urlBase, dc, packet)
+		res, err := f.sendDoH(ctx, urlBase, dc, fq.packet)
 		if err == nil || ctx.Err() != nil {
 			return res, err
 		}
@@ -344,10 +339,10 @@ func (f *forwarder) send(ctx context.Context, txidOut txid, closeOnCtxDone *clos
 	}
 	defer conn.Close()
 
-	closeOnCtxDone.Add(conn)
-	defer closeOnCtxDone.Remove(conn)
+	fq.closeOnCtxDone.Add(conn)
+	defer fq.closeOnCtxDone.Remove(conn)
 
-	if _, err := conn.WriteTo(packet, dst.UDPAddr()); err != nil {
+	if _, err := conn.WriteTo(fq.packet, dst.UDPAddr()); err != nil {
 		if err := ctx.Err(); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -376,7 +371,7 @@ func (f *forwarder) send(ctx context.Context, txidOut txid, closeOnCtxDone *clos
 	}
 	out = out[:n]
 	txid := getTxID(out)
-	if txid != txidOut {
+	if txid != fq.txid {
 		return nil, errors.New("txid doesn't match")
 	}
 
@@ -411,6 +406,30 @@ func (f *forwarder) resolvers(domain dnsname.FQDN) []netaddr.IPPort {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// forwardQuery is information and state about a forwarded DNS query that's
+// being sent to 1 or more upstreams.
+//
+// In the case of racing against multiple equivalent upstreams
+// (e.g. Google or CloudFlare's 4 DNS IPs: 2 IPv4 + 2 IPv6), this type
+// handles racing them more intelligently than just blasting away 4
+// queries at once.
+type forwardQuery struct {
+	txid   txid
+	packet []byte
+
+	// closeOnCtxDone lets send register values to Close if the
+	// caller's ctx expires. This avoids send from allocating its
+	// own waiting goroutine to interrupt the ReadFrom, as memory
+	// is tight on iOS and we want the number of pending DNS
+	// lookups to be bursty without too much associated
+	// goroutine/memory cost.
+	closeOnCtxDone *closePool
+
+	// TODO(bradfitz): add race delay state:
+	// mu sync.Mutex
+	// ...
+}
+
 // forward forwards the query to all upstream nameservers and returns the first response.
 func (f *forwarder) forward(query packet) error {
 	domain, err := nameFromQuery(query.bs)
@@ -418,7 +437,6 @@ func (f *forwarder) forward(query packet) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	txid := getTxID(query.bs)
 	clampEDNSSize(query.bs, maxResponseBytes)
 
 	resolvers := f.resolvers(domain)
@@ -426,8 +444,12 @@ func (f *forwarder) forward(query packet) error {
 		return errNoUpstreams
 	}
 
-	closeOnCtxDone := new(closePool)
-	defer closeOnCtxDone.Close()
+	fq := &forwardQuery{
+		txid:           getTxID(query.bs),
+		packet:         query.bs,
+		closeOnCtxDone: new(closePool),
+	}
+	defer fq.closeOnCtxDone.Close()
 
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(f.ctx, responseTimeout)
 	defer cancel()
@@ -440,7 +462,7 @@ func (f *forwarder) forward(query packet) error {
 
 	for _, ipp := range resolvers {
 		go func(ipp netaddr.IPPort) {
-			resb, err := f.send(ctx, txid, closeOnCtxDone, query.bs, ipp)
+			resb, err := f.send(ctx, fq, ipp)
 			if err != nil {
 				mu.Lock()
 				defer mu.Unlock()