diff --git a/app/verify/cli.py b/app/verify/cli.py
index be32aee..522c4c6 100644
--- a/app/verify/cli.py
+++ b/app/verify/cli.py
@@ -416,7 +416,19 @@ def cmd_check_urls(args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
     now_year = offline.now_year_today()
     categories = tuple(args.category) if args.category else CATEGORIES
 
+    cache = http_check.load_cache()
+    now = datetime.now(UTC)
+
+    def _fresh(u: str) -> bool:
+        return u in cache and http_check.is_fresh(cache[u], now, args.ttl_days)
+
     frontier = _ranked_unverified(records, soc_release, now_year, categories)
+    if not args.recheck:
+        # Records whose citations are all fresh would fill the quota every run and
+        # starve lower-ranked records that were never checked.
+        frontier = [rec for rec in frontier if not all(
+            _fresh(u) for u in rec.data.get("source_urls", []) if isinstance(u, str)
+        )]
     if args.max is not None:
         frontier = frontier[: args.max]
 
@@ -425,14 +437,10 @@ def cmd_check_urls(args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
         urls.extend(u for u in rec.data.get("source_urls", []) if isinstance(u, str))
     targets = http_check.dedupe_urls(urls)
 
-    cache = http_check.load_cache()
-    now = datetime.now(UTC)
     if args.recheck:
         todo = targets
     else:
-        todo = [u for u in targets if not (
-            u in cache and http_check.is_fresh(cache[u], now, args.ttl_days)
-        )]
+        todo = [u for u in targets if not _fresh(u)]
 
     print(
         f"check-urls: {len(frontier)} record(s) -> {len(targets)} unique URL(s); "
diff --git a/tests/verify/test_http_check.py b/tests/verify/test_http_check.py
index 6f3debb..04ecb15 100644
--- a/tests/verify/test_http_check.py
+++ b/tests/verify/test_http_check.py
@@ -213,3 +213,31 @@ def test_host_backoff_is_capped():
     for _ in range(20):
         limiter.back_off("gsmarena.com")
     assert limiter.interval_for("gsmarena.com") == http_check.MAX_HOST_INTERVAL_S
+
+
+def test_check_urls_frontier_skips_fully_cached_records(monkeypatch, capsys):
+    """Already-checked top records must not fill --max and starve unchecked ones."""
+    import argparse
+    from datetime import datetime
+
+    from app.verify import cli
+    from app.verify.common import Record
+
+    recs = [Record("cpu", f"cpu/{i}.json",
+                   {"slug": f"c{i}", "verified": False,
+                    "source_urls": [f"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C{i}"]}) for i in range(3)]
+    now = datetime.now(UTC).strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
+    cache = {"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C0": {"alive": False, "status": 404, "checked_at": now}}
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli, "load_all", lambda *a, **k: {"cpu": recs})
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli, "foreign_key_sets", lambda r: (set(), set(), {}))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli, "_ranked_unverified", lambda *a: list(recs))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(http_check, "load_cache", lambda *a: dict(cache))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(http_check, "is_fresh", lambda e, now, ttl: True)
+    checked = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(http_check, "check_urls",
+                        lambda urls, **k: checked.extend(urls) or [])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(http_check, "save_cache", lambda *a, **k: None)
+    args = argparse.Namespace(category=["cpu"], max=1, recheck=False, ttl_days=30,
+                              workers=1, min_interval=0.0)
+    cli.cmd_check_urls(args)
+    assert checked == ["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C1"]