diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/colocation_utils.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/colocation_utils.c
index b400fd662..a5490714d 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/utils/colocation_utils.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/colocation_utils.c
@@ -963,25 +963,46 @@ ColocatedTableId(Oid colocationId)
 	ScanKeyInit(&scanKey[0], Anum_pg_dist_partition_colocationid,
 				BTEqualStrategyNumber, F_INT4EQ, ObjectIdGetDatum(colocationId));
 
-	/* do not allow any tables to be dropped while we read from pg_dist_partition */
-	pgDistPartition = heap_open(DistPartitionRelationId(), ShareLock);
+	pgDistPartition = heap_open(DistPartitionRelationId(), AccessShareLock);
 	tupleDescriptor = RelationGetDescr(pgDistPartition);
 	scanDescriptor = systable_beginscan(pgDistPartition,
 										DistPartitionColocationidIndexId(),
 										indexOK, NULL, scanKeyCount, scanKey);
 
 	heapTuple = systable_getnext(scanDescriptor);
-	if (HeapTupleIsValid(heapTuple))
+	while (HeapTupleIsValid(heapTuple))
 	{
+		Relation colocatedRelation = NULL;
+
 		colocatedTableId = heap_getattr(heapTuple, Anum_pg_dist_partition_logicalrelid,
 										tupleDescriptor, &isNull);
 
-		/* make sure the table isn't dropped for the remainder of the transaction */
+		/*
+		 * Make sure the relation isn't dropped for the remainder of
+		 * the transaction.
+		 */
 		LockRelationOid(colocatedTableId, AccessShareLock);
+
+		/*
+		 * The relation might have been dropped just before we locked it.
+		 * Let's look it up.
+		 */
+		colocatedRelation = RelationIdGetRelation(colocatedTableId);
+		if (RelationIsValid(colocatedRelation))
+		{
+			/* relation still exists, we can use it */
+			RelationClose(colocatedRelation);
+			break;
+		}
+
+		/* relation was dropped, try the next one */
+		colocatedTableId = InvalidOid;
+
+		heapTuple = systable_getnext(scanDescriptor);
 	}
 
 	systable_endscan(scanDescriptor);
-	heap_close(pgDistPartition, ShareLock);
+	heap_close(pgDistPartition, AccessShareLock);
 
 	return colocatedTableId;
 }