diff --git a/src/backend/statistics/extended_stats.c b/src/backend/statistics/extended_stats.c
index 4516c97f40..d8e5150023 100644
--- a/src/backend/statistics/extended_stats.c
+++ b/src/backend/statistics/extended_stats.c
@@ -322,12 +322,14 @@ statext_store(Oid statOid,
 			  MVNDistinct *ndistinct, MVDependencies *dependencies,
 			  MCVList *mcv, VacAttrStats **stats)
 {
+	Relation	pg_stextdata;
 	HeapTuple	stup,
 				oldtup;
 	Datum		values[Natts_pg_statistic_ext_data];
 	bool		nulls[Natts_pg_statistic_ext_data];
 	bool		replaces[Natts_pg_statistic_ext_data];
-	Relation	pg_stextdata;
+
+	pg_stextdata = table_open(StatisticExtDataRelationId, RowExclusiveLock);
 
 	memset(nulls, true, sizeof(nulls));
 	memset(replaces, false, sizeof(replaces));
@@ -371,8 +373,6 @@ statext_store(Oid statOid,
 		elog(ERROR, "cache lookup failed for statistics object %u", statOid);
 
 	/* replace it */
-	pg_stextdata = table_open(StatisticExtDataRelationId, RowExclusiveLock);
-
 	stup = heap_modify_tuple(oldtup,
 							 RelationGetDescr(pg_stextdata),
 							 values,