A 21% rake is mild compared to what most oncourse bookies charge so maybe it's not so dumb after all especially when you consider that there is excellent value to be found in trifectas and exactas

there is so much dumb money in the exotics pools that it is very easy to overcome the rake. there are a number of punters who hang out on ausrace who "rake" the exotics pools daily and i manage to make a good deal more from the exotics than i do from the win bets

like the old saying goes "value is in the eye of the beholder"

R.Gort