diff --git a/R-package/R/predict.xgb.Booster.R b/R-package/R/predict.xgb.Booster.R
index 033bfab84..b1c3c10ca 100644
--- a/R-package/R/predict.xgb.Booster.R
+++ b/R-package/R/predict.xgb.Booster.R
@@ -77,4 +77,4 @@ setMethod("predict", signature = "xgb.Booster",
   }
   return(ret)
 })
- 
+
diff --git a/R-package/R/predict.xgb.Booster.handle.R b/R-package/R/predict.xgb.Booster.handle.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..05cbf891e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R-package/R/predict.xgb.Booster.handle.R
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+setClass("xgb.Booster.handle")
+
+setMethod("predict", signature = "xgb.Booster.handle", 
+          definition = function(object, ...) {
+  if (class(object) != "xgb.Booster.handle"){
+    stop("predict: model in prediction must be of class xgb.Booster.handle")
+  }
+  
+  bst <- list(handle = object,raw = NULL)
+  class(bst) <- 'xgb.Booster'
+  bst$raw <- xgb.save.raw(bst$handle)
+  
+  ret = predict(bst, ...)
+  return(ret)
+})
+
diff --git a/R-package/R/utils.R b/R-package/R/utils.R
index bcbde36d1..5093382d4 100644
--- a/R-package/R/utils.R
+++ b/R-package/R/utils.R
@@ -102,42 +102,28 @@ xgb.numrow <- function(dmat) {
 }
 # iteratively update booster with customized statistics
 xgb.iter.boost <- function(booster, dtrain, gpair) {
-  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster") {
-    stop("xgb.iter.update: first argument must be type xgb.Booster")
-  } else {
-    if (is.null(booster$handle)) {
-      booster$handle <- xgb.load(booster$raw)
-    } else {
-      if (is.null(booster$raw))
-        booster$raw <- xgb.save.raw(booster$handle)
-    }
+  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster.handle") {
+    stop("xgb.iter.update: first argument must be type xgb.Booster.handle")
   }
   if (class(dtrain) != "xgb.DMatrix") {
     stop("xgb.iter.update: second argument must be type xgb.DMatrix")
   }
-  .Call("XGBoosterBoostOneIter_R", booster$handle, dtrain, gpair$grad, gpair$hess, 
+  .Call("XGBoosterBoostOneIter_R", booster, dtrain, gpair$grad, gpair$hess, 
         PACKAGE = "xgboost")
   return(TRUE)
 }
 
 # iteratively update booster with dtrain
 xgb.iter.update <- function(booster, dtrain, iter, obj = NULL) {
-  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster") {
-    stop("xgb.iter.update: first argument must be type xgb.Booster")
-  } else {
-    if (is.null(booster$handle)) {
-      booster$handle <- xgb.load(booster$raw)
-    } else {
-      if (is.null(booster$raw))
-        booster$raw <- xgb.save.raw(booster$handle)
-    }
+  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster.handle") {
+    stop("xgb.iter.update: first argument must be type xgb.Booster.handle")
   }
   if (class(dtrain) != "xgb.DMatrix") {
     stop("xgb.iter.update: second argument must be type xgb.DMatrix")
   }
 
   if (is.null(obj)) {
-    .Call("XGBoosterUpdateOneIter_R", booster$handle, as.integer(iter), dtrain, 
+    .Call("XGBoosterUpdateOneIter_R", booster, as.integer(iter), dtrain, 
           PACKAGE = "xgboost")
   } else {
     pred <- predict(booster, dtrain)
diff --git a/R-package/R/xgb.load.R b/R-package/R/xgb.load.R
index 87247b4a9..264176952 100644
--- a/R-package/R/xgb.load.R
+++ b/R-package/R/xgb.load.R
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 xgb.load <- function(modelfile) {
   if (is.null(modelfile)) 
     stop("xgb.load: modelfile cannot be NULL")
+  
   bst <- list(handle = NULL,raw = NULL)
   class(bst) <- 'xgb.Booster'
   bst$handle <- xgb.Booster(modelfile = modelfile)