1 files changed, 3 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/preloader.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/preloader.rb
index 2317e34bc0..6cc9d6c079 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/preloader.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/preloader.rb
@@ -85,9 +85,11 @@ module ActiveRecord
       def initialize(records, associations, preload_scope = nil)
         @records       = Array.wrap(records).compact.uniq
         @associations  = Array.wrap(associations)
-        @preload_scope = preload_scope || Relation.create(nil, nil)
+        @preload_scope = preload_scope || NULL_RELATION
       end
 
+      NULL_RELATION = Struct.new(:values).new({})
+
       def run
         unless records.empty?
           associations.each { |association| preload(association) }