On the 744 the gates are at 1 and 20. The 20 gate is to prevent inadvertent retraction beyond 20 on G/A. The 1 gate is to prevent premature retraction beyond 1, since airplane controllability will be marginal at heavy weights (above approx 310 T).
Since T/O flaps are 10 or 20, the 'gates show the T/O range' theory is not valid for the 744.