Only some .htaccess static 301’s work, possible internal redirect bug

Using a standard .htaccess file to do traditional redirects, after converting a site into wordpress.

For some strange reason, a few of the static 301’s just dont work as if by dark magic. I have never experienced this phenomenon before.

Example:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

# works perfectly
redirect 301 /thatcats/onepage/ http://10.3.0.3/somecat/newpagewp1/

# holding up the whole shebang by refusing to comply with reality, makes 404
redirect 301 /morenose/anotherpage/ http://10.3.0.3/about/newpagewp2/

How can this be? The working theory is that some internal wordpress function is bugged out… like the built in 301 director.

Does anyone know how to clean out all the internal 301 links, I’ve been wading around trying to find the right mysql cell to wipe.

Is there any way to force wordpress not to interfere with your static redirects?