diff --git a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
index 00993e0fa..372daf86c 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
@@ -519,7 +519,9 @@ func initDefaultTitleBody(ctx CreateContext, state *shared.IssueMetadataState, u
 }
 
 // tryDetermineTrackingRef is intended to try and find a remote branch on the same commit as the currently checked out
-// HEAD, i.e. the local branch.
+// HEAD, i.e. the local branch. If there are multiple branches that might match, the first remote is chosen, which in
+// practice is determined by the sorting algorithm applied much earlier in the process, roughly "upstream", "github", "origin",
+// and then everything else unstably sorted.
 func tryDetermineTrackingRef(gitClient *git.Client, remotes ghContext.Remotes, localBranchName string, headBranchConfig git.BranchConfig) (git.TrackingRef, bool) {
 	// To try and determine the tracking ref for a local branch, we first construct a collection of refs
 	// that might be tracking, given the current branch's config, and the list of known remotes.
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go
index 4785a9d99..c5127bcc6 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go
@@ -1643,17 +1643,17 @@ func Test_tryDetermineTrackingRef(t *testing.T) {
 			name: "no match",
 			cmdStubs: func(cs *run.CommandStubber) {
 				cs.Register(`git config --get-regexp.+branch\\\.feature\\\.`, 0, "")
-				cs.Register("git show-ref --verify -- HEAD refs/remotes/origin/feature refs/remotes/upstream/feature", 0, "abc HEAD\nbca refs/remotes/origin/feature")
+				cs.Register("git show-ref --verify -- HEAD refs/remotes/upstream/feature refs/remotes/origin/feature", 0, "abc HEAD\nbca refs/remotes/upstream/feature")
 			},
 			remotes: context.Remotes{
-				&context.Remote{
-					Remote: &git.Remote{Name: "origin"},
-					Repo:   ghrepo.New("hubot", "Spoon-Knife"),
-				},
 				&context.Remote{
 					Remote: &git.Remote{Name: "upstream"},
 					Repo:   ghrepo.New("octocat", "Spoon-Knife"),
 				},
+				&context.Remote{
+					Remote: &git.Remote{Name: "origin"},
+					Repo:   ghrepo.New("hubot", "Spoon-Knife"),
+				},
 			},
 			expectedTrackingRef: git.TrackingRef{},
 			expectedFound:       false,
@@ -1662,24 +1662,24 @@ func Test_tryDetermineTrackingRef(t *testing.T) {
 			name: "match",
 			cmdStubs: func(cs *run.CommandStubber) {
 				cs.Register(`git config --get-regexp.+branch\\\.feature\\\.`, 0, "")
-				cs.Register(`git show-ref --verify -- HEAD refs/remotes/origin/feature refs/remotes/upstream/feature$`, 0, heredoc.Doc(`
+				cs.Register(`git show-ref --verify -- HEAD refs/remotes/upstream/feature refs/remotes/origin/feature$`, 0, heredoc.Doc(`
 		deadbeef HEAD
-		deadb00f refs/remotes/origin/feature
-		deadbeef refs/remotes/upstream/feature
+		deadb00f refs/remotes/upstream/feature
+		deadbeef refs/remotes/origin/feature
 	`))
 			},
 			remotes: context.Remotes{
-				&context.Remote{
-					Remote: &git.Remote{Name: "origin"},
-					Repo:   ghrepo.New("hubot", "Spoon-Knife"),
-				},
 				&context.Remote{
 					Remote: &git.Remote{Name: "upstream"},
 					Repo:   ghrepo.New("octocat", "Spoon-Knife"),
 				},
+				&context.Remote{
+					Remote: &git.Remote{Name: "origin"},
+					Repo:   ghrepo.New("hubot", "Spoon-Knife"),
+				},
 			},
 			expectedTrackingRef: git.TrackingRef{
-				RemoteName: "upstream",
+				RemoteName: "origin",
 				BranchName: "feature",
 			},
 			expectedFound: true,