diff --git a/src/backend/parser/parse_utilcmd.c b/src/backend/parser/parse_utilcmd.c
index 89c8315117b..7797c707f73 100644
--- a/src/backend/parser/parse_utilcmd.c
+++ b/src/backend/parser/parse_utilcmd.c
@@ -3150,6 +3150,9 @@ transformStatsStmt(Relation rel, CreateStatsStmt *stmt, const char *queryString)
 	if (stmt->transformed)
 		return stmt;
 
+	/* create a copy to scribble on */
+	stmt = copyObject(stmt);
+
 	/* Set up pstate */
 	pstate = make_parsestate(NULL);
 	pstate->p_sourcetext = queryString;