Low riders are indeed meant to attach to the mid-fork eyelet, look at the rack I posted, as well as the tubus racks. What would concern me about the axiom rack is that it doesn't look like the two sides of the rack are connected. That is what the loop over the tire is for, to stabilize the load further. I use an axiom rear rack on my commuter, and it is flimsy as hell, and I wouldn't trust it on a tour, though many use them. Then again i use BG racks, so my opinion is skewed when comparing racks to it.

Maybe try a jandd?
http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FRLOW

Mounting instructions:
http://www.jandd.com/Technotes/technotes_front_rack.asp

The U-shape thing that you refer to are to attach a front rack if you fork does not have the eyelets.