diff --git a/src/Microsoft.ML.LightGbm/LightGbmRankingTrainer.cs b/src/Microsoft.ML.LightGbm/LightGbmRankingTrainer.cs
index 12cc0b148e..8ed23778e9 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.ML.LightGbm/LightGbmRankingTrainer.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.ML.LightGbm/LightGbmRankingTrainer.cs
@@ -222,7 +222,8 @@ private protected override void CheckDataValid(IChannel ch, RoleMappedData data)
                     $"Label column '{labelCol.Name}' is of type '{labelType.RawType}', but must be Key or Single.");
             }
             // Check group types.
-            ch.CheckParam(data.Schema.Group.HasValue, nameof(data), "Need a group column.");
+            if(!data.Schema.Group.HasValue)
+                throw ch.ExceptValue(nameof(data.Schema.Group), "Group column is missing.") ;
             var groupCol = data.Schema.Group.Value;
             var groupType = groupCol.Type;
             if (!(groupType == NumberDataViewType.UInt32 || groupType is KeyDataViewType))