diff --git a/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/python/ROOT/_pythonization/_ml_dataloader.py b/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/python/ROOT/_pythonization/_ml_dataloader.py
index 3e0030d243d28..9b0d778a360f1 100644
--- a/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/python/ROOT/_pythonization/_ml_dataloader.py
+++ b/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/python/ROOT/_pythonization/_ml_dataloader.py
@@ -175,19 +175,6 @@ def __init__(
                     given value is {validation_split}"
             )
 
-        if load_eager:
-            # TODO: overhead, check if we can improve the following lines
-            if sampling_type == "undersampling" and not replacement:
-                rdf_0 = rdataframes[0].Count().GetValue()
-                rdf_1 = rdataframes[1].Count().GetValue()
-                rdf_minor = min(rdf_0, rdf_1)
-                rdf_major = max(rdf_0, rdf_1)
-                if rdf_major < rdf_minor / sampling_ratio:
-                    raise ValueError(
-                        f"The sampling_ratio is too low: not enough entries in the majority class to sample from. \n \
-                        Choose sampling_ratio > {round(rdf_minor / rdf_major, 3)} or set replacement to False."
-                    )
-
         if not hasattr(rdataframes, "__iter__"):
             rdataframes = [rdataframes]
         self.noded_rdfs = [RDF.AsRNode(rdf) for rdf in rdataframes]
diff --git a/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/test/ml_dataloader.py b/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/test/ml_dataloader.py
index eb6326dc2f19e..5445114f08125 100644
--- a/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/test/ml_dataloader.py
+++ b/bindings/pyroot/pythonizations/test/ml_dataloader.py
@@ -4683,8 +4683,37 @@ def test(size_of_batch, num_of_entries_major, num_of_entries_minor, sampling_rat
                 self.teardown_file(file_name2)
                 raise
 
+        def test_raises(size_of_batch, num_of_entries_major, num_of_entries_minor, sampling_ratio):
+            define_rdf_major(num_of_entries_major, file_name1)
+            define_rdf_minor(num_of_entries_minor, file_name2)
+
+            df1 = ROOT.RDataFrame(tree_name, file_name1)
+            df2 = ROOT.RDataFrame(tree_name, file_name2)
+
+            with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                Exception, r"The sampling_ratio is too low: not enough entries in the majority class to sample from."
+            ):
+                ROOT.Experimental.ML.CreateNumPyGenerators(
+                    [df1, df2],
+                    batch_size=size_of_batch,
+                    target=["b3", "b5"],
+                    weights="b1",
+                    validation_split=0.3,
+                    shuffle=False,
+                    drop_remainder=False,
+                    load_eager=True,
+                    sampling_type="undersampling",
+                    sampling_ratio=sampling_ratio,
+                    replacement=False,
+                )
+
+        # test the functionality with a proper sampling ratio
         test(batch_size, entries_in_rdf_major, entries_in_rdf_minor, sampling_ratio)
 
+        bad_sampling_ratio = round(max(min_allowed_sampling_ratio - 0.01, 0.01), 2)
+        # test that an error is raised when the sampling ratio is too low
+        test_raises(batch_size, entries_in_rdf_major, entries_in_rdf_minor, bad_sampling_ratio)
+
     def test14_big_data_replacement_true(self):
         file_name1 = "big_data_major.root"
         file_name2 = "big_data_minor.root"
diff --git a/tree/ml/inc/ROOT/ML/RSampler.hxx b/tree/ml/inc/ROOT/ML/RSampler.hxx
index 0dbbe812c6278..2c5f0e52723a4 100644
--- a/tree/ml/inc/ROOT/ML/RSampler.hxx
+++ b/tree/ml/inc/ROOT/ML/RSampler.hxx
@@ -103,6 +103,14 @@ public:
       fNumMajor = fDatasets[fMajor].GetRows();
       fNumMinor = fDatasets[fMinor].GetRows();
       fNumResampledMajor = static_cast<std::size_t>(fNumMinor / fSampleRatio);
+      if (!fReplacement && fNumResampledMajor > fNumMajor) {
+         auto minRatio = std::to_string(std::round(double(fNumMinor) / double(fNumMajor) * 100.0) / 100.0);
+         minRatio.erase(minRatio.find('.') + 3);
+         throw std::invalid_argument(
+            "The sampling_ratio is too low: not enough entries in the majority class to sample from.\n"
+            "Choose sampling_ratio > " +
+            minRatio + " or set replacement to True.");
+      }
       fNumEntries = fNumMinor + fNumResampledMajor;
    }