[monit] got a byte-string for sa spamd ?

[Len Conrad]

my monit checking for sa-spamd :

if failed port 783 type tcp ...

... causes spamassassin spamd to log for every monit check:

Sun Sep 14 11:46:20 2008 [83173] warn: spamd: bad protocol: header error: 
(closed before headers) at /usr/local/bin/spamd line 1982.

Anybody got a spamd-specific byte-string, or "protocol sa-spamd", for checking 
sa-spamd?

thanks
Len