diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequest.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequest.java
index 07ef5a96a00..d25e01e02dc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequest.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequest.java
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ public class CountRequest extends BroadcastOperationRequest<CountRequest> {
         super.readFrom(in);
         minScore = in.readFloat();
         routing = in.readOptionalString();
+        preference = in.readOptionalString();
         querySourceUnsafe = false;
         querySource = in.readBytesReference();
         types = in.readStringArray();
@@ -247,6 +248,7 @@ public class CountRequest extends BroadcastOperationRequest<CountRequest> {
         super.writeTo(out);
         out.writeFloat(minScore);
         out.writeOptionalString(routing);
+        out.writeOptionalString(preference);
         out.writeBytesReference(querySource);
         out.writeStringArray(types);
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequestBuilder.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequestBuilder.java
index 83271b1177b..d31bb7935d1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequestBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/count/CountRequestBuilder.java
@@ -60,6 +60,17 @@ public class CountRequestBuilder extends BroadcastOperationRequestBuilder<CountR
         return this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the preference to execute the search. Defaults to randomize across shards. Can be set to
+     * <tt>_local</tt> to prefer local shards, <tt>_primary</tt> to execute only on primary shards,
+     * _shards:x,y to operate on shards x & y, or a custom value, which guarantees that the same order
+     * will be used across different requests.
+     */
+    public CountRequestBuilder setPreference(String preference) {
+        request.preference(preference);
+        return this;
+    }
+
     /**
      * The routing values to control the shards that the search will be executed on.
      */